[birding] E.E. Wilson: Eurasian Wigeon, rails, yellowthroat & a note for dog owners

[Joel Geier]

Hi folks,

On a lunchtime walk at E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area with Heidi (our border
collie/aussie shepherd mix), I saw a flock of 50 WIGEON on the NW corner
marsh, which included one EURASIAN WIGEON drake, and heard a couple of
VIRGINIA RAILS that responded to my Sora imitations (no Soras yet
though).

With the wind & little rain squalls moving through, I heard more birds
than I saw, including: male RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS zinging just about
everywhere, one COMMON YELLOWTHROAT chupping in a rose thicket, and one
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER in a blooming cherry thicket.

GOLDEN-CROWNED and LINCOLN'S SPARROWS are still around but numbers seem
to be thinning out. A WESTERN BLUEBIRD pair and RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER
are continuing in our yard and a HUTTON'S VIREO up the ridge has been
singing off & on, even in the rain for a bit this morning.

A little warning to those of you who like to take your dogs along while
birding: ODFW has a new hire who's being very zealous about their leash
rules. Today he drove about 1/3 mile out of his way to hassle me about
the fact that Heidi was trotting about three steps ahead of me while I
had her leash in my pocket, rather than keeping the leash on full time.

So, be forewarned -- the word is zero tolerance even if your dog stays
on the roadway and there's no one else out there (I pretty much had the
place to myself today, except for the new guy tooling around in his 4WD
pickup).

The good news is, migration finally seems to be kicking in. Even though
things are blustery, the birds are still very active in between squalls.
The Philomath sewage ponds might be fun if anyone has a chance to check
those in the next couple of days while this storm comes through.

Happy birding
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis